“We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal.’” -- Martin Luther King In other words, what is legal is not necessarily what is right. With that in mind, I find myself struggling to imagine what justice for Breonna Ta

Pardon me if I repeat myself but, sometimes, I repeat myself. I realized that as I was web surfing for a possible column on what would happen if President Donald Trump loses reelection in November but doesn’t want to leave. A search quickly showed me

Across America, people are cutting and pasting versions of a pledge to willful ignorance with damning regularity. The online statement of personal superiority usually starts off with an admission that a rant is about to commence. It’s like they’re be

Something strange is going on with The New York Times and the 1619 Project. By now you’ve probably heard of the 1619 Project. It began as a special issue of The Times’ Sunday magazine to mark the 400th anniversary of African slaves being brought to t

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg participates in a discussion at the Georgetown University Law Center on February 10, 2020 in Washington, DC. Last week, I advised saving up some outrage for Donald Trump’s latest. Glad I did, because thi

Is this the future, leaking into the present moment? “You have good genes, you know that, right? You have good genes. A lot of it is about the genes, isn’t it, don’t you believe? The racehorse theory. You think we’re so different? You have good genes

ANCHORAGE — From the moment Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, was made aware of the threat of COVID-19, he acted faster than most other states and the federal government. In an interview, I asked him why he moved so quickly when others did not? “We g

Ultimately, it comes down to a set of rules. Meaning norms, practices, guidelines — some written as law, some just respected as customs — to which we all adhere, even when that gives advantage to those with whom we disagree. It’s a covenant pluralist

I’ll confess: There was a time when I would have considered the question facing Republicans a no-brainer. Of course they should seize this opportunity to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg with a conservative. Moving the courts — especially the Sup

I hear that Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s law clerks had to explain to her that her increasingly popular nickname, “Notorious RBG,” was a compliment. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall as they explained the nickname’s origin in The Notorious B.I.G.,

The passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg gives conservatives and Republicans what they claim to have wanted since judicial activism became the norm in the 1960s. From outlawing prayer and Bible reading in public schools, to the infamo

Last year, 15 women filed a lawsuit alleging systemic sexual harassment and assault by male prison officers at the Coleman Federal Correction Complex in Sumter County, Fla., near Wildwood. The women’s ages ranged from 30 to 56, and most were first of

This is for the people who keep asking me about Chicago. Other cities too, sometimes, but it is mostly the City of the Big Shoulders, with its spiraling murder rate, that sends many of you rushing to your keyboards. Why are black people so exercised

With less than two months to go until Election Day, the presidential contest increasingly reminds me of a 1950s game show; “Who Do You Trust?” Or, as I feel compelled to add in a salute to my finicky-yet-beloved English teachers, “Whom Do You Trust?”

The macabre story of the doctor dubbed by immigrants as the “uterus collector” swirled through Latino social media circles. It ignited Democratic condemnation of the Trump administration and sent a chill down the spine of all who heard it. If anyone

By any conventional or historical measure, the recent breakthrough between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain is a good thing, and the Trump administration deserves its share of praise for it. The refusal of much of the media to take thi

There was a time in America, unknown or not experienced by people under the age of 50, when politics was a contact sport played with mostly accepted rules and the equivalent of “sportsmanship.” Losers would graciously concede and wish the victor well

Shut up and let corporate America — and also, for that matter, corporate Taiwan — get on with its business. We have ethane to crack and plastic to produce. We dare not let America run out of shopping bags! Environmental racism? Don’t be ridiculous. T

Attention Deficit Disorder. If you don’t have it, consider yourself lucky. According to the American Psychiatric Association, one out of 25 Americans, and one out of 10 children, have some level of A.D.D., loosely described as the inability to remain

Let’s squarely face an ugly possibility: President Trump could get elected a second time without winning the popular vote. Indeed, according to most experts, that’s the only way he could be reelected. This would surely prompt another chorus of calls

LOS ANGELES - We gave a damn too late. Sometimes, I think that will be the legacy of this generation. Or maybe I’m just tired of seeing people walking around without masks as if a pandemic had not taken almost 200,000 American lives. Then again, it

On hearing that President Trump sat for 18 interviews with Bob Woodward of The Washington Post my first reaction was “what the…” Why Woodward? There can only be two reasons. The first must have been that the president thought he could persuade the ma

Asking President Donald Trump how he feels about “white privilege” is sort of like asking a young fish how it feels about water. As the late author David Foster Wallace tells the fable in an unusually famous commencement address, the young fish doesn

The ghost of Richard Nixon knocked on Donald Trump’s bedroom door the other night. “Come on in, Dick,” said Trump. “Want some fries?” Nixon looked grim. “You actually talked to Bob Woodward?” “Sure did,” Trump said. “On the record? Right here in the

We weren’t going to normalize this. Remember that? Remember the way many of us solemnly vowed we would always maintain the ability to be outraged, hold on to our capacity for shock? Well, after almost four years that have passed like geologic time, t

As marriages of convenience go, Chicago’s crime-fighting partnership with the Trump administration looks awkward at best, strikingly in need of a pastor or perhaps a referee. Attorney General William Barr was in town Wednesday to update the city on “

As marriages of convenience go, Chicago’s crime-fighting partnership with the Trump administration looks awkward at best, strikingly in need of a pastor or perhaps a referee. Attorney General William Barr was in town Wednesday to update the city on “

As marriages of convenience go, Chicago’s crime-fighting partnership with the Trump administration looks awkward at best, strikingly in need of a pastor or perhaps a referee. Attorney General William Barr was in town Wednesday to update the city on “

As marriages of convenience go, Chicago’s crime-fighting partnership with the Trump administration looks awkward at best, strikingly in need of a pastor or perhaps a referee. Attorney General William Barr was in town Wednesday to update the city on “

As marriages of convenience go, Chicago’s crime-fighting partnership with the Trump administration looks awkward at best, strikingly in need of a pastor or perhaps a referee. Attorney General William Barr was in town Wednesday to update the city on “